Excerpt from C. Richmond’s “Industrialization” PPT – posted to her website

GROWTH OF CITIES AND AMERICAN CULTURE

“New” ImmigrantsEastern and

Southern Europe Italians, Slavs, Greeks,

Poles and RussiansPull Factors

Political and religious freedom

Economic opportunities

Push Factors Joblessness, religious

persecution

Italian Immigrant

Russian Jewish Family

UrbanizationUrbanization and

Industrialization developed simultaneously

Cities provided a labor force and a market place of goods

City population – immigrants and ex-farmers

Chicago

Manhattan

Changes in the City

Ethnic neighborhoods Chinatown, Little Italy

Maintain language, culture and religion

Skyscrapers – expansion upward Replaced the church

spirals as dominant feature of skylines

Streetcars-exodus of higher income workers Effect – segregation by

income

Private vs. Public CityAt first residents of cities did not expect

public services as a result cities did not deal with build up waste, pollution, disease, and crime

Advocates pushed for services: water purification, sewage systems, street lighting, police departments, and waste disposal

Factors Promoting Suburban GrowthAbundant land at low costInexpensive transportationLow cost construction homesEthnic and racial prejudiceAmerican fondness for privacy and

detached individual houses

Boss and Machine PoliticsPolitical parties in major

cities came under control of organized groups of politicians, known as political machines

Each machine had a “boss”- top politician who gave orders to the rank and file and doled out government jobs to supporters

Political Machines could be greedy as well generous – stole millions from the taxpayers Boss Tweed portrayed as a

vulture

Settlement Houses

Concerned about the lives of the poor well education men and women opened settlement houses

They were also political activists who fought for child labor laws and housing reforms

Most famous – Hull House opened by Jane Addams

Jane Addams

Hull House

Social GospelImportance of applying Christian

principles to social principlesindividuals could not live sin free unless

the social and economic situations that had driven them into sin in the first place was removed

Encouraged middle-class Protestants to attack urban problems

RealismRealist Author- Mark

Twain The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn- revealed greed, violence and racial prejudice

James McNeill Whistler – “Whistler’s Mother” influenced the development of modern art

Architecture and MusicFrederick Law

Olmsted specialized in landscape architecture – designed Central Park and the grounds of the U.S. capitol

Jazz – Jelly Roll Morton introduced Jazz to the American public – combined African rhythms with western instruments

AmusementsCircus, Theaters, Wild

West ShowFactors promoting the

growth of leisure time activities Reduction in hours

worked Improved transportation Advertising Decline of Victorian

values that discouraged” wasting” time on play

Spectator SportsBaseball, football,

basketball, and boxing

Played and attended by men

John Sullivan, heavy weight boxer, most famous athlete of the era – drew large crowds from all social classes to cheer and wager